Method for measuring biological signal and wearable electronic device for the same

ABSTRACT

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is a wearable electronic device, comprising: a first sensor configured to sense a movement of the electronic device; a second sensor configured to sense a biological signal for a user wearing the electronic device; and a processor configured to compute a movement value of the electronic device using the first sensor, to detect a resting state when the movement value lasts within a predetermined first threshold range during a first time period, and to configure biological information of the user based on a biological signal measured after detection of the resting state.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a Continuation of Ser. No. 15/297, 271 filed on Oct.19, 2016 which is a Continuation application of U.S. Patent applicationSer. No. 14/974,708 filed on Dec. 18, 2015 which is U.S. Pat. No.9,510,790 issued on Dec. 6, 2016 which claims the benefit under 35U.S.C. § 119(a) of a Korean patent application filed in the KoreanIntellectual Property Office on Feb. 27, 2015 and assigned Serial No.10-2015-0028418, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated hereinby reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to wearable electronic devices formeasuring biological signals.

DISCUSSION OF RELATED ART

Electronic devices may carry out various functions in an integratedmanner. For example, smartphones or other portable terminals areadvancing to allow users more convenience with better performance.Wearable electronic devices recently developed are a sort of electronicdevices with shapes such as wristwatches, headsets, or glasses that maybe put on user's body. As such, electronic devices nowadays go beyondtheir own unique functionalities and converge with other portabledevices.

More attention is directed to health and leads to vigorous researchefforts in electronic device-based healthcare applications. Sensors ofan electronic device may gather information relating to the electronicdevice, the exterior of the electronic device, or information regardingthe user. Among others, steady measurement of biological signals iscritical in a check-up on the user's physical condition. The demand fortechnology that may monitor the user's condition during a workout ordiet session is prompting the development of electronic devices equippedwith the functionality of checking the user's heart rate.

A normal resting heart rate refers to a beat count per minute measuredwhile the user lies on the bed. Taking an average of values measuredduring the same time duration consecutively five or more days as aresting heart rate reduces errors in measurement. However, it is toughfor the user to measure their heart rate in the same time duration rightbefore they get up. Five to ten minutes of relaxation prior tomeasurement of the heart rate using the electronic device also resultsin a more accurate measurement. Further, this can be quite inconvenientfor many users.

Consecutively check the user's heart rate 24 hours using an electronicdevice to address such issues results in significant batteryconsumption. The foregoing also fails to distinguish the user's restingheart rate from those measured for the period. Accordingly, theforegoing is not a suitable idea for portable electronic devices.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there are provideda method for automatically measuring a user's biological signaldepending on the user's condition in a wearable electronic device and awearable electronic device for the same.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there are a methodfor detecting a user's resting state to measure a biological signalcorresponding to the resting state without the need of remaining stillfor the measurement and a wearable electronic device for the same.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is a methodfor reducing power consumption by activating a sensor for measuring abiological signal when the user is determined to be in a resting statebased on the detection of a movement of an electronic device put on theuser and a wearable electronic device for the same.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is awearable electronic device, comprising: a first sensor configured tosense a movement of the electronic device; a second sensor configured tosense a biological signal for a user wearing the electronic device; anda processor configured to compute a movement value of the electronicdevice using the first sensor, to detect a resting state when themovement value lasts within a predetermined first threshold range duringa first time period, and to configure biological information of the userbased on a biological signal measured after detection of the restingstate.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method formeasuring biological information using a wearable electronic device,comprises: sensing a movement of the electronic device; computing amovement value of the electronic device using the sensed movement anddetecting a resting state when the movement value is within apredetermined first threshold range during a first time period; andconfiguring biological information of a user wearing the electronicdevice based on a biological signal for the user measured afterdetection of the resting state.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses exemplary embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the present disclosure and many of theattendant aspects thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomesbetter understood by reference to the following detailed descriptionwhen considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a network environment including anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an example of monitoring a heart rate in aresting state by an electronic device according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an example where an electronicdevice is worn according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4A is a perspective view illustrating a main body of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B is a perspective view illustrating the main body of theelectronic device as viewed in a different direction according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are perspective views illustrating a watch-typewearable electronic device where a sensor module is positioned accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a glasses-type electronicdevice where a sensor module is positioned according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for determining a statein which an electronic device is worn according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for measuring bioinformation in a resting state by an electronic device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are graphs illustrating movement strengthsaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B are flowcharts illustrating an operation after bioinformation has been measured in a resting state by an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for storing a resultmeasured based on bio information measured in a resting state by anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B and FIG. 13C are screen views illustrating results ofmeasurement of heart rates corresponding to items selected by the useraccording to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a view illustrating a healthcare service using a result ofheart rate measurement performed in a resting state according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a view illustrating an example of displaying a healthcarecontent using a result of heart rate measurement performed in a restingstate by a plurality of electronic devices according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a program module according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood torefer to like parts, components, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure are described withreference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should beappreciated that the present disclosure is not limited to theembodiments, and all changes and/or equivalents or replacements theretoalso belong to the scope of the present disclosure. The same or similarreference denotations may be used to refer to the same or similarelements throughout the specification and the drawings.

As used herein, the terms “have,” “may have,” “include,” or “mayinclude” a feature (e.g., a number, function, operation, or a componentsuch as a part) indicate the existence of the feature and do not excludethe existence of other features.

As used herein, the terms “A or B,” “at least one of A and/or B,” or“one or more of A and/or B” may include all possible combinations of Aand B. For example, “A or B,” “at least one of A and B,” “at least oneof A or B” may indicate all of (1) including at least one A, (2)including at least one B, or (3) including at least one A and at leastone B.

As used herein, the terms “first” and “second” may modify variouscomponents regardless of importance and/or order and are used todistinguish a component from another without limiting the components.For example, a first user device and a second user device may indicatedifferent user devices from each other regardless of the order orimportance of the devices. For example, a first component may be denoteda second component, and vice versa without departing from the scope ofthe present disclosure.

It will be understood that when an element (e.g., a first element) isreferred to as being (operatively or communicatively) “coupled with/to,”or “connected with/to” another element (e.g., a second element), it canbe coupled or connected with/to the other element directly or via athird element. In contrast, it will be understood that when an element(e.g., a first element) is referred to as being “directly coupledwith/to” or “directly connected with/to” another element (e.g., a secondelement), no other element (e.g., a third element) intervenes betweenthe element and the other element.

As used herein, the terms “configured (or set) to” may beinterchangeably used with the terms “suitable for,” “having the capacityto,” “designed to,” “adapted to,” “made to,” or “capable of” dependingon circumstances. The term “configured (or set) to” does not essentiallymean “specifically designed in hardware to.” Rather, the term“configured to” may mean that a device can perform an operation togetherwith another device or parts. For example, the term “processorconfigured (or set) to perform A, B, and C” may mean a generic-purposeprocessor (e.g., a CPU or application processor) that may perform theoperations by executing one or more software programs stored in a memorydevice or a dedicated processor (e.g., an embedded processor) forperforming the operations.

The terms as used herein are provided merely to describe someembodiments thereof, but not to limit the scope of other embodiments ofthe present disclosure. It is to be understood that the singular forms“a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise. The terms including technical and scientificterms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one ofordinary skill in the art to which the embodiments of the presentdisclosure belong. It will be further understood that terms, such asthose defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted ashaving a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context ofthe relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein. In some cases, theterms defined herein may be interpreted to exclude embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

For example, examples of the electronic device according to embodimentsof the present disclosure may include at least one of a smartphone, atablet personal computer (PC), a mobile phone, a video phone, an e-bookreader, a desktop PC, a laptop computer, a netbook computer, aworkstation, a PDA (personal digital assistant), a portable multimediaplayer (PMP), an MP3 player, a mobile medical device, a camera, or awearable device. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure,the wearable device may include at least one of an accessory-type device(e.g., a watch, a ring, a bracelet, an anklet, a necklace, glasses,contact lenses, or a head-mounted device (HMD)), a fabric- orclothes-integrated device (e.g., electronic clothes), a bodyattaching-type device (e.g., a skin pad or tattoo), or a bodyimplantable device (e.g., an implantable circuit).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice may be a home appliance. For example, examples of the homeappliance may include at least one of a television, a digital video disk(DVD) player, an audio player, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, acleaner, an oven, a microwave oven, a washer, a drier, an air cleaner, aset-top box, a home automation control panel, a security control panel,a TV box (e.g., Samsung HomeSync™, Apple TV™, or Google TV™), a gamingconsole (Xbox™, PlayStation™), an electronic dictionary, an electronickey, a camcorder, or an electronic picture frame.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, examples of theelectronic device may include at least one of various medical devices(e.g., diverse portable medical measuring devices (a blood sugarmeasuring device, a heartbeat measuring device, or a body temperaturemeasuring device), a magnetic resource angiography (MRA) device, amagnetic resource imaging (MRI) device, a computed tomography (CT)device, an imaging device, or an ultrasonic device), a navigationdevice, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, an eventdata recorder (EDR), a flight data recorder (FDR), an automotiveinfotainment device, an sailing electronic device (e.g., a sailingnavigation device or a gyro compass), avionics, security devices,vehicular head units, industrial or home robots, automatic teller'smachines (ATMs), point of sales (POS) devices, or Internet of Thingsdevices (e.g., a bulb, various sensors, an electric or gas meter, asprinkler, a fire alarm, a thermostat, a street light, a toaster,fitness equipment, a hot water tank, a heater, or a boiler).

According to various embodiments of the disclosure, examples of theelectronic device may at least one of part of furniture orbuilding/structure, an electronic board, an electronic signaturereceiving device, a projector, or various measurement devices (e.g.,devices for measuring water, electricity, gas, or electromagneticwaves). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may be one or a combination of the above-listeddevices. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may be a flexible electronic device. The electronicdevice disclosed herein is not limited to the above-listed devices, andmay include new electronic devices depending on the development oftechnology.

Hereinafter, electronic devices are described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. As used herein, the term “user” may denote a human oranother device (e.g., an artificial intelligent electronic device) usingthe electronic device.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment 100 including an electronicdevice 101 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.Referring to FIG. 1, the electronic device 101 may be a device that maybe worn on a portion of the user's body, such as their wrist, arm, head,ankle, or face, and the external electronic devices 103 and 104 may beportable devices that may communicate with the electronic device 101.

Referring to FIG. 1, the electronic device 101 may include a bus 110, aprocessor 120, a memory 130, an input/output interface 140, a display150, a communication interface 160, and a sensor module 170. In someembodiments, the electronic device 101 may exclude at least one of thecomponents or may add another component.

The bus 110 may include a circuit for connecting the components 120 to170 with one another and transferring communications (e.g., controlmessages and/or data) between the components.

The processing module 120 may include one or more of a centralprocessing unit (CPU), an application processor (AP), or a communicationprocessor (CP). The processor 120 may perform control on at least one ofthe other components of the electronic device 101, and/or perform anoperation or data processing relating to communication. The processor120 may receive a command from other component (e.g., the memory 130,the input/output interface 140, the display 150, the communicationinterface 160, or the sensor module 170) through, e.g., the bus 110, mayinterpret the received command, and may execute computation or dataprocessing according to the interpreted command.

The processor 120 may be denoted a controller, or the processor 120 mayinclude a controller as part thereof.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 120may perform the operation of sensing a movement of the electronic device101 (for example, in conjunction with the sensor module 170), theoperation of computing a movement value of the electronic device usingthe sensed movement to determine a resting time when the movement valueis maintained within a predetermined first threshold range during afirst time interval, and the operation of configuring bio information ofa user wearing the electronic device based on a biological signal forthe user measured after the resting time.

Specifically, the processor 120 may determine whether the electronicdevice 101 is worn based on data sensed from the sensor module 170, andwhen the electronic device 101 is worn, may compute movement strengthsof the electronic device 101 to determine a variation in movementstrength and to determine whether the variation in movement strength ismaintained for a predetermined time within a predetermined thresholdrange. When the variation in movement strength is maintained for thepredetermined time within the predetermined threshold range isconsidered to be in a resting state where there is little or no movementof the user, and a bio sensor for measuring a biological signal may beactivated to measure a biological signal in the resting state.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 120may activate at least one bio sensor included in the sensor module 170,and the bio sensor may accordingly measure various biological signalsfrom the user's body to output various bio sensor values related to theuser's body. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, amongthe bio sensors, a heart rate sensor may be activated to measure a heartrate. Besides, other biological signals, such as the user's bloodpressure, blood flow, respiration rate, oxygen saturation,cardiorespiratory sound, or blood sugar, may be measured to determinethe user's state in the resting state.

As described above, at the time of being determined to be in the restingstate based on the detection of a movement of the electronic device 101put on the user, the bio sensor may be activated to measure a heartrate. Thus, power consumption of the electronic device 101 may beminimized. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, sincethe bio sensor is activated considering a previous movement state evenwhen it is determined to be in the resting state, a more accurate resultof measurement of a heart rate corresponding to the resting state may beobtained.

The memory 130 may store a command or data received from other component(e.g., the input/output interface 140, the display 150, thecommunication interface 160, or the sensor module 170) or a command ordata generated by the processor 120 or other component. The memory 130may retain programming modules including, e.g., a kernel 131, middleware132, an application programming interface (API) 133, or an application134. The programming modules may comprise a portion of memory storing aplurality of machine-readable instructions.

The memory 130 may store sensing data measured by one or more sensorsincluded in the sensor module 170. The memory 130 may further storesensing data (e.g., speed, acceleration, or traveling direction of theelectronic device 101) measured by an acceleration sensor or gyro sensorincluded in the sensor module 170. The memory 130 may further storesensor values to analyze the speed, acceleration, or traveling directionof the electronic device 101 to determine the user's current movingstate or movement (e.g., walking, jogging, or sleeping).

The memory 130 may previously retain data to determine whether theelectronic device 101 is worn based on the sensing data. Further, thememory 130 may previously retain data to determine a state where theuser comes to rest and is in a stable condition while the user doestheir daily routine with the electronic device 101 on them. Further, biosensor values measured in every resting state where the variation inmovement strength is maintained for a predetermined time within apredetermined threshold range may be recorded in the memory 130.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, biologicalsignals, such as heart rates, body temperatures, or skin resistances,may be measured whenever the resting state comes up. Further, uponstoring a bio sensor value, information collected under the control ofthe processor 120 may be stored as well. For example, the placecorresponding to the location information on the electronic device 101,time of the measurement, or use history of the application on theelectronic device 101 may be stored, mapped with bio informationconfigured based on the bio sensor values.

The kernel 131 may control or manage system resources (e.g., the bus110, the processor 120, or the memory 130) used to execute the operationor function implemented in the other programming modules, e.g., themiddleware 132, the API 133 or the application 134. The kernel 131 mayprovide an interface that allows the middleware 132, the API 133, or theapplication 134 to access the individual components of the electronicdevice 101 to control or manage the same.

The middleware 132 may function as a relay to allow the API 133 or theapplication 134 to communicate data with the kernel 131. A plurality ofapplications 134 may be provided. The middleware 132 may perform controlin response to work requests received from the applications 134, e.g.,by allocating the priority of using the system resources of theelectronic device 101 (e.g., the bus 110, the processor 120, or thememory 130) to at least one of the plurality of applications 134 inrelation to the work requests.

The API 133 is an interface allowing the application 134 to controlfunctions provided from the kernel 131 or the middleware 132. Forexample, the API 133 may include at least one interface or function(e.g., a command) for filing control, window control, image processingor text control.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there may beprovided a plurality of applications 134 including a short messageservice (SMS)/multimedia messaging service (MMS) application, an emailapplication, a calendar application, an alarm application, a health careapplication (e.g., an application for monitoring a state of measuring aheart rate or an application for measuring calorie consumption based onthe heart rate), or an environmental information application (e.g., anapplication providing atmospheric pressure, moisture, or temperatureinformation). Further, the application 134 may be an application relatedto information exchange between the electronic device 101 and anexternal electronic device (e.g., electronic device 103 or 104).Examples of the information exchange-related application may include,but is not limited to, a notification relay application for transferringspecific information to the external electronic device, or a devicemanagement application for managing the external electronic device.

For example, in the case of the health care application, the user mayexecute the health care application to access the health care server 106or external electronic device 104. Here, the electronic device 101 mayreceive location information from the electronic device 103 via thecommunication interface 160.

The user may measure bio information using a bio sensor included in thesensor module 170. The electronic device 101 may transmit a measurementvalue of bio information to the external electronic device 104 orhealthcare server 106 via the communication interface 160. In case theelectronic device 101 transmits the measurement value to the healthcareserver 106, the electronic device 101 may obtain a diagnosis result forthe measurement value from the healthcare server 106 and may display thediagnosis result on the display 150 or provide the same to the userthrough, e.g., an alert sound or voice message. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic device 101 maytransmit the measurement value of the bio information to the healthcareserver 106 or the external electronic device 104 and may outputinformation corresponding to the measurement value of the bioinformation.

Here, the external electronic device 104 may receive the measurementvalue of the bio information from the electronic device 101, collect,generate, manage, store, provide, or process the information, and maysend a result back to the electronic device 101. To that end, theexternal electronic device 104 may be implemented to be similar inconfiguration to the electronic device 101.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the applications134 may include an application designated according to an attribute(e.g., type of the electronic device) of the external electronic device(e.g., the electronic device 104). Further, the applications 134 mayinclude at least one of an application designated to the electronicdevice 101 or an application received from an external electronic device(e.g., the health care server 106 or the electronic device 104).

The input/output interface 140 may transfer commands or data input bythe user through an input/output device (e.g., a keyboard or touchscreen) to the processor 120, the memory 130, or the communicationinterface 160 through, e.g., the bus 110. For example, the input/outputinterface 140 may provide data for an input means, such as the user'sfinger or an electronic pen, input through the touch screen, to theprocessor 120.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the input unit ofthe input/output interface 140 may include a touch panel, a (digital)pen sensor, a key, or an ultrasonic input device. The touch panel mayrecognize touch inputs in at least one of capacitive, resistive,infrared, or ultrasonic methods. The touch panel may be implemented asat least one or more panels that may sense various inputs, such as theuser's single or multi-touch input, a drag input, a handwriting input,or a drawing input, using various objects, such as a finger or pen.

For example, the touch panel may be implemented using a single panelthat may sense both a finger input and a pen input or using two panelsincluding a touch recognition module that may sense a finger input and apen recognition module that may sense a pen input. Further, the touchpanel may further include a control circuit. With the capacitive method,physical contact or proximity detection may be possible. The touch panelmay further include a tactile layer. In this regard, the touch panel mayprovide the user with a tactile response. The input/output interface 140may output, through the input/output device (e.g., a speaker ordisplay), commands or data received from the processor 120, the memory130, the communication interface 160, or the sensor module 170 through,e.g., the bus 110.

The display 150 may display various types of information (e.g.,multimedia data or text data) to the user. According to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the display 150 may display a screen foridentifying a bio information measurement result for the user. Thedisplay 150 may be implemented as a touch screen. The touch screen maybe provided with a display panel performing a display function forinformation output from the electronic device 101 and an input panelperforming various input functions by the user. The display panel may bea panel, such as, e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or active-matrixorganic light emitting diode (AMOLED) panel.

The display panel may display various screens according to variousoperation states of the electronic device 101, application execution,and services.

The input panel may be implemented as at least one or more panels thatmay sense various inputs, such as the user's single or multi-touchinput, a drag input, a handwriting input, or a drawing input, usingvarious objects, such as a finger or pen. For example, the input panelmay be implemented using a single panel that may sense both a fingerinput and a pen input or using two panels including a touch recognitionmodule that may sense a finger input and a pen recognition module thatmay sense a pen input.

Such touch screen may output, to a touch screen controller, a signalcorresponding to at least one user input to the user graphic interface.The touch screen may receive at least one user input through the user'sbody (e.g., an index finger or other finger). The touch screen mayreceive a continuous motion of a touch. The touch screen may output ananalog signal corresponding to the continuous motion of the input touchto the touch screen controller.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the touch is notlimited to a contact between the touch screen and a user input means,such as a finger, and rather may include a non-contact (for example, thecase where the user input means is positioned within a recognitiondistance (e.g., 1 cm) where the user input means may be detected withouta direct contact with the touch screen). The distance or interval withinwhich the user input means may be recognized on the touch screen may bevaried depending on the performance or structure of the electronicdevice 101. In particular, the touch screen may be configured to outputa value detected by a direct touch event (by a contact of the user inputmeans to the touch screen) and a value (including, e.g., a voltage valueor current value as an analog value) detected by an indirect touch event(i.e., a hovering event), which are different from each other, so thatthe direct touch event and the hovering event may be detected distinctfrom each other.

Such touch screen may be implemented, e.g., in a capacitive, infrared,or acoustic wave manner, or in a combination thereof.

The touch screen controller converts a signal input from the touchscreen into a digital signal and transmits the same to the controller.The controller may control the user interface displayed on the touchscreen using the digital signal received from the touch screencontroller. For example, the controller may allow a shortcut icon (notshown) displayed on the touch screen or object to be selected orexecuted in response to the direct touch event or hovering event.Further, the touch screen controller may be integrated with thecontroller.

The touch screen controller may identify a hovering interval or distanceas well as the position of the user's input by detecting the value(e.g., a current value) output through the touch screen and may convertthe identified distance value into a digital signal (e.g., a Z axis) andprovide the same to the controller.

The communication interface 160 may establish communication between theelectronic device 101 and an external electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 104 or the health care server 106). For example, thecommunication interface 160 may be connected with the network 162through wireless or wired communication to communicate with the externaldevice (e.g., the external electronic device 104 or the healthcareserver 106).

The wireless communication may be a cellular communication protocol andmay use at least one of, e.g., long-term evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced(LTE-A), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA),universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), wireless broadband(WiBro), or global system for mobile communications (GSM). Further, thewireless communication may include, e.g., short-range communication 164.The short-range communication 164 may include at least one of wirelessfidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, near-field communication (NFC), or globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS). The GNSS may include at least oneof, e.g., global positioning system (GPS), global navigation satellitesystem (Glonass), Beidou navigation satellite system (hereinafter,“Beidou”) or Galileo, or the European global satellite-based navigationsystem. Hereinafter, the terms “GPS” and the “GNSS” may beinterchangeably used herein. The wired connection may include at leastone of, e.g., universal serial bus (USB), high definition multimediainterface (HDMI), recommended standard (RS)-232, or plain old telephoneservice (POTS). The network 162 may include at least one oftelecommunication networks, e.g., a computer network (e.g., LAN or WAN),Internet, or a telephone network.

The external electronic devices 103 and 104 each may be a device of thesame or a different type from the electronic device 101. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the healthcare server 106 mayinclude a group of one or more servers. According to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure, all or some of operations executed on theelectronic device 101 may be executed on another or multiple otherelectronic devices (e.g., the external electronic devices 103 and 104 orhealthcare server 106). According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, when the electronic device 101 should perform some functionor service automatically or at a request, the electronic device 101,instead of executing the function or service on its own or additionally,may request another device (e.g., electronic devices 103 and 104 orhealthcare server 106) to perform at least some functions associatedtherewith. The other electronic device (e.g., electronic devices 103 and104 or healthcare server 106) may execute the requested functions oradditional functions and transfer a result of the execution to theelectronic device 101. The electronic device 101 may provide a requestedfunction or service by processing the received result as it is oradditionally. To that end, a cloud computing, distributed computing, orclient-server computing technique may be used, for example.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 101 may be connected with the healthcare server 106 through thenetwork 162. The electronic device 101 may transmit a result of bioinformation measurement to the healthcare server 106 and obtainhealth-related information created based on the result of the bioinformation measurement from the healthcare server 106.

Further, the electronic device 101 may analyze, process, or treat bioinformation of the measured target, e.g., a result of monitoring a heartrate in the resting state in real-time, and output the result whilesimultaneously transmitting the result to the healthcare server 106,allowing a result of diagnosis or prescription according to the resultto be output.

Further, the electronic device 101 may accumulate results of bioinformation measurement for a predetermined period necessary for healthdiagnosis and may store the accumulated bio information measurement datain the memory 130. The accumulated bio information measurement data maybe transmitted to the healthcare server 106. The healthcare server 106may allow for comprehensive support on various heath state information,diagnosis results, the search for various medical information,customers' health promotion, self-diagnosis, medical serviceappointments, information of comparing and evaluating various products,and information on clinics, based on the received bio informationmeasurement data.

When the diagnosis result shows an emergency, e.g., when a width of avariation in heart rate in the resting state is greater than or equal toa predetermined level, the healthcare server 106 or the electronicdevice 101 may inform the user of the emergency so that the user maytake emergency measures. As such, the healthcare server 106 may collect,generate, store, provide, or process the bio information that is basedon the measured biological signal and send the result back to the userthrough the electronic device 101.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the network 162may be a telecommunication network. The telecommunication network mayinclude a computer network, the Internet, an Internet of things (IoT)network, or a telephone network, or any combination of the foregoing.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, protocols forcommunication between the electronic device 101 and the externalelectronic device (examples of such protocols include, but not limitedto, transport layer protocol, data link layer protocol, or physicallayer protocol) may be supported by the application 134, the API 133,the middleware 132, the kernel 131, or the communication interface 160.

The sensor module 170 may include at least one sensor for detecting thestate of the electronic device 101. For example, the sensor module 170may include a proximity sensor to detect whether the user approaches theelectronic device 101 and a motion sensor to detect a motion or movementof the electronic device 101. Here, the motion sensor may output asensing data value according to a movement of the electronic device 101.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the motion sensormay include an acceleration sensor to detect the acceleration of theelectronic device 101. Here, the acceleration sensor may be atwo-dimensional (X axis and Y axis) or three-dimensional (X axis, Yaxis, and Z axis) acceleration sensor.

The sensor module 170 may further include at least one of anillumination sensor to detect the amount of light around the electronicdevice 101, a motion sensor to detect an operation of the electronicdevice 101, a gyroscope to detect the rotation of the electronic device101, a geomagnetic sensor to detect an orientation (point of thecompass) of the electronic device 101 using a geomagnetic field, agravity sensor to detect the direction in which the gravity acts, and analtimeter to measure an air pressure to detect the altitude.

Further, the sensor module 170 may include a bio sensor. The bio sensormay measure various biological signals for the user wearing theelectronic device 101 and output bio sensor values respectivelycorresponding to the biological signals. According to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the bio sensor may include a heart rate sensorto measure the user's heart rate. It is noted that the heart rate can bemeasured by measurement of a pulse. Accordingly, as used herein, “heartrate” shall include “pulse.” As the heart rate sensor, a piezoelectricsensor or photoelectric sensor may come in use. Further, the bio sensormay include at least one of a galvanic skin response (GSR) sensor or atemperature sensor. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the bio sensor may be used to determine whether theelectronic device 101 is being worn on the user's body as well as tomeasure various biological signals of the user. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, in order to determine whether theelectronic device 101 is being worn on the user's body, the bio sensormay be activated or the proximity sensor to detect whether the userapproaches the 101 may be activated. Or, two or more sensors, such asthe bio sensor or proximity sensor, may be activated.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when theelectronic device is determined through the proximity sensor to approachor contact a portion of the user's body, the acceleration sensor may beused to produce a movement value of the electronic device 101 and todetermine a resting time when the movement value is maintained for apredetermined time period within a predetermined threshold range toactivate the bio sensor at the resting time. Here, the bio sensor may beactivated at the resting time when the movement value is determined tobe maintained for the predetermined time period within the predeterminedfirst threshold range. Alternatively, the bio sensor may be activated atthe time when the movement value comes in the predetermined firstthreshold range. As such, the bio sensor, e.g., the heart rate sensor,may be activated at the time when it is determined that there is nomovement. Thus, a heart rate measurement result in the resting state maybe obtained.

Each of the aforementioned components of the electronic device mayinclude one or more parts, and a name of the part may vary with a typeof the electronic device. The electronic device in accordance withvarious embodiments of the present disclosure may include at least oneof the aforementioned components, omit some of them, or include otheradditional component(s). Some of the components may be combined into anentity, but the entity may perform the same functions as the componentsmay do.

The term ‘module’ may refer to a unit including one of hardware, memorystoring executable instructions, a computer-readable medium havingexecutable instructions embedded thereon, or a combination thereof. Theterm ‘module’ may be interchangeably used with a unit, logic, logicalblock, component, or circuit. The module may be a minimum unit or partof an integrated component. The module may be a minimum unit or part ofperforming one or more functions. The module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, the module may include atleast one of Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips, FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or Programmable Logic Arrays (PLAs)that perform some operations, which have already been known or will bedeveloped in the future.

At least a part of the device (e.g., modules or their functions) ormethod (e.g., operations) may be implemented as instructions stored in acomputer-readable storage medium e.g., in the form of a programmingmodule. The instructions, when executed by one or more processor (e.g.,the processor 120), may cause the processor to carry out a correspondingfunction. The computer-readable storage medium may be e.g., the memory130. At least a part of the programming module may be implemented (e.g.,executed) by e.g., the processor 120. At least a part of the programmingmodule may include e.g., a module, program, routine, set ofinstructions, process, or the like for performing one or more functions.

The computer-readable storage medium may include a hardware deviceconfigured to store and perform program instructions (e.g., programmingmodule), such as magnetic media such as hard discs, floppy discs, andmagnetic tapes, optical media such as compact disc read only memories(CD-ROMs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs), magneto-optical media suchas floptical disks, read only memories (ROMs), random access memories(RAMs), flash memories, and/or the like. Examples of the programinstructions may include not only machine language codes but alsohigh-level language codes which are executable by various computingmeans using an interpreter. The aforementioned hardware devices may beconfigured to operate as one or more software modules to carry outexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and vice versa.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an example of monitoring a heart rate in aresting state by an electronic device according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the electronic device 101 may be worn by the user.The electronic device 101 may monitor the user's condition or statewhile worn by the user. The electronic device 101 may be put on aportion of the user's body, such as face, wrist, arm, head, or ankle.While put on the portion of the user's body, the electronic device 101may be able to monitor the heart rate even in sleep. Therefore, theuser's heart rate in the resting state may be automatically measuredwhenever the motionless state lasts for a predetermined time even whilethe user does his daily routines, eliminating the need of forcedlyleaving himself in the lying position before wakeup to measure a restingheart rate. As such heart rate measurement results accumulate for apredetermined time period, the result of monitoring resting heart ratesbecomes more reliable.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an example where an electronicdevice is worn according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.Referring to FIG. 3, a three-dimensional X/Y/Z orthogonal coordinatesystem is shown. The “Z” axis refers to an upper-lower direction(thickness direction) of the main body 310 of the electronic device 301,the “X axis” a horizontal direction of the main body 310, and the “Yaxis” a vertical direction of the main body 310.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 301 may be an electronic device that may be worn like, e.g., awatch, armband, hair band, or bracelet. However, embodiments of thepresent disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, the electronicdevice may be one of an anklet, a strip, a band, an adhesive (Band-Aidtype) band, a belt, an ear-worn earphone, a headphone, a clothes-typedevice, a shoe-type device, a head mounted display (HMD), a hat-typedevice, a glove-type device, a thimble (fingertip-worn) device, aclip-type device, an armband-type device, a contact lens device, adigital clothing device, or a remote controller.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may apply to a curved part of the user's body in adiversified manner. The curved part of the user's body may be, e.g., awrist or ankle. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure,the electronic device may be easily put on various parts of the user'sbody depending on the configuration of a wearing unit.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 301 may include the main body 310 (a function device portion) anda wearing portion 320 including a wearing member (e.g., a band orstrap). The main body 310 may be detachably coupled to the wearingportion 320. On the main body 310 may be arranged a display 315 todisplay various types of information, a pressing key (e.g., a side keyK) to enter various types of information, a sensor module (e.g., a biosensor), or a touch input unit. The main body 310 may include a frontsurface F and a rear surface R contacting the user's body when theelectronic device is worn on the user). The display 315 may bepositioned on the front surface F of the main body 310, and the sensormodule may be positioned on the rear surface R of the main body 310.

The main body 310 may be shaped as a bar and may at least partially havea curvature corresponding to the user's body. For example, the main body310 may be shaped substantially as a rectangle extending in the verticaldirection (the Y axis direction) with a curvature. The main body 310 mayhave a connecting hole on its side for coupling with the wearing portion320.

The wearing portion 320 may be formed of an elastic material and enablesthe main body 310 to be stably worn on the user's body. As necessary,the wearing portion 320 may bring the main body 310 in snug contact withthe user's skin. The main body 310 may be detachably coupled to thewearing portion 320. Accordingly, the wearing portion 320 may beadjusted by the user's taste or preference. According to an embodimentof the present disclosure, the portion of the wearing portion 320 thatis coupled to the main body 310 may be configured to be elasticallytransformed, and the worn surface (e.g., the inner surface of the firstand second wearing members 330 and 335) brought in snug contact with theuser's body might not be formed of an elastic material. The wearingportion 320 may have an opening extending in a direction thereof andwhere the main body 310 is fitted or removed.

The first and second wearing members 330 and 335 may extend apart fromeach other along the vertical direction (Y) of the main body 310.However, the first and second wearing members 330 and 335 may have acurved shape along the thickness direction (Z) of the main body 310considering that the electronic device 301 is worn on the user's body.

The wearing portion 320 may include a means to together couple the firstand second wearing members 330 and 335. For example, as the firstwearing member 330 and the second wearing member 335 are tied together,the wearing portion 320 may be left in a closed curve shape. The wearingportion 320, when configured to have an exchangeable structure, may beimplemented to have various designs or colors and may be replaced by theuser's taste. That is, the wearing portion 320 may be utilized as afashion accessory.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view illustrating a main body of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4B isa perspective view illustrating the main body of the electronic deviceas viewed in a different direction according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the main body 310 may include a bodyhousing 311 and a display 315 mounted on the body housing 311. The bodyhousing 311 may include a front surface F, a rear surface R, and a sidesurface connecting the front surface F with the rear surface R. Thefront surface F and the rear surface R each may be configured with acurvature. The main body 310 may further include a pressing key (e.g., aside key K) to enter various types of information. The front surface Fis a surface on which the display 315 is positioned, and the rearsurface R is a surface that contacts the user's body. The front surfaceF has a first curvature, and the rear surface R has a second curvature.The first and second curvatures may be determined considering the designof the product, the outline of the user' wrist, and the sense ofwearing. FIGS. 4a and 4b illustrate an example in which the firstcurvature is smaller than the second curvature. Although in the instantembodiment the rear surface R has the second curvature, the rear surfaceR may alternatively be formed to be flat overall or partially.

The front surface F of the body housing 311 has the display 315 disposedthereon and needs to be configured to enable easier screen viewing. Therear surface R of the body housing 311 should be configured to provide acomfortable fit. Since a sensor module 400 (e.g., a bio sensor) isdisposed on the rear surface R, the rear surface R may have a shape totightly contact the user's wrist.

The body housing 311 may have a curvature suited for the user's bodyshape, e.g., the thickness or curvature (e.g., the second curvature) ofthe wrist, thus enhancing wearability and increasing compatibility withvarious customers. The curved display 315 may be provided on the frontsurface F of the body housing 311, and the sensor module 400, e.g., abio sensor, may be provided on the rear surface R of the body housing311. The rear surface R may come in contact with the user's body (e.g.,a wrist). As set forth above, the body housing 311 may be shaped to havea curvature considering the user's body shape and allows the sensormodule 400 to come in snug contact with the user's body.

The sensor module 400 provided on the body housing 311 may include atleast one of an acceleration sensor, a heart rate sensor, a proximitysensor, a photo sensor, a GSR sensor, and a temperature sensor (such asa thermometer). The sensor module 400 may include other various sensorsto determine whether the electronic device 301 is worn. Although thedisplay 315 is shown to have a shape reflecting the user's bodycurvature, the display 315 may alternatively be configured as a flatdisplay (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic lightemitting diode (OLED) display), a curved display, or a flexible display.For example, although in the instant embodiment the main body 310 has acurved display, the main body 310 may alternatively have a flat displayor a flexible display.

A protrusion 322 may be formed on the rear surface R of the main body310 to allow the sensor module 400 to more snugly contact the user'sbody. The sensor module 400 may be positioned on the protrusion 322.Contact members 340, e.g., recharging terminals, may be arranged on therear surface R of the main body 310. The array of the contact members340 may be positioned adjacent to the sensor module 400.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the sensor module 400 may be provided on the rearsurface R of the body housing 311 in the form of a single moduleincluding an acceleration sensor 410 to measure a movement of theelectronic device 301, a sensor used to determine whether the electronicdevice is worn on the body, e.g., the proximity sensor 420, and a biosensor, e.g., the heart rate sensor 430, to measure a biological signal.

The sensor module 400 may include a sensor interface 321, e.g., aninterface window, disposed on the rear surface R of the main body 310.To place the sensor interface 321, the protrusion 322 may be formed onthe rear surface R. As the sensor interface 321 is disposed on theprotrusion 322, the sensor module 400 may come in more snug contact withthe user's body when sensing a biological signal.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the accelerationsensor 410 may be a two-dimensional (X axis and Y axis) orthree-dimensional (X axis, Y axis, and Z axis) acceleration sensor.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the proximitysensor 420 may be used to determine whether the electronic device isworn on the body, and the proximity sensor 420 may detect whether anobject, e.g., the user's wrist, approaches an inner surface of theelectronic device 301. Here, while the proximity sensor 420 may detectan object approaching the inner surface of the electronic device 301, atleast one bio sensor may be activated to determine whether theapproaching object is actually the user's body.

The proximity sensor 420 may come in various types depending ondetection schemes, and among them, may include an optical-type photosensor, such as an infrared ray (IR) sensor.

The photo sensor may convert light itself or information included inlight into an electric signal. The photo sensor may include a lightemitting portion and a light receiving portion. The photo sensor mayemit light through the light emitting portion and receive light throughthe light receiving portion. The photo sensor may come close or contacta portion of the user's body when the electronic device 301 is worn onthe user's body. When the photo sensor comes close or contacts theportion of the user's body, light emitted from the light emittingportion may be radiated to the user's body, and a reflection from theuser's body may be received by the light receiving portion. The photosensor may measure and output the amount of the reflection received bythe light receiving portion. The amount of light measured may be used todetermine whether the photo sensor comes close or contacts the portionof the user's body, and whether the photo sensor comes close or contactsthe portion of the user's body may be used to determine whether theelectronic device 301 is worn on the user's body.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in addition to theheart rate sensor, the sensor module 400 may include a bio sensor thatmay measure various biological signals of the user's body to outputvarious bio sensor values related to the user's body and that may detectthe state of wearing the electronic device. According to an embodimentof the present disclosure, the bio sensor may include at least one of aGSR sensor or a temperature sensor. The sensor module may furtherinclude other bio sensors that may determine whether the electronicdevice 301 is being worn on the user's body.

The GSR sensor may be a current skin resistance response sensor. The GSRsensor may be any one of an electrodermal response (EDR) sensor, apsycho galvanic reflex (PGR) sensor, or a skin conductance response(SCR). The GSR sensor may include an ohmmeter and may measure anelectric conductance between two points on the skin. The GSR sensor maycome close or contact a portion of the user's body when the electronicdevice 301 is worn on the user's body. The GSR sensor may output a skinresistance by measuring the electric conductance between the two pointson the skin after applying a predetermined tiny amount of current to theuser's skin when approaching or contacting the portion of the user'sbody. The electric conductance measured may be used to determine whetherthe GSR sensor comes close or contacts the portion of the user's body,and whether the GSR sensor comes close or contacts the portion of theuser's body may be used to determine whether the electronic device 301is worn on the user's body.

The temperature sensor may be a sensor that measures a temperature basedon variations of electrical resistance, voltage or current that is madewhen the temperature changes. The temperature sensor may come close orcontact a portion of the user's body when the electronic device 301 isworn on the user's body. The temperature sensor may output the value ofa variation in internal resistance, voltage, or current that occurs dueto the body temperature when it approaches or contacts a portion of theuser's body. The measured value of the variation in internal resistance,voltage, or current may be used to determine whether the temperaturesensor comes close or contacts the portion of the user's body, andwhether the temperature sensor comes close or contacts the portion ofthe user's body may be used to determine whether the electronic device301 is worn on the user's body.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the bio sensor mayinclude any other sensors that may measure a biological signal todetermine whether the electronic device 301 is being worn on the user'sbody than the heart rate sensor, the GSR sensor, and the temperaturesensor. For example, the bio sensor may include a heart rate variability(HRV) sensor to measure a pulse wave signal.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the proximitysensor 420 determines that the electronic device approaches or contactsa portion of the user's body, that is, while the electronic device isworn, the acceleration sensor 410 may whether a variation in the degreeof movement output lasts for a predetermined time period within apredetermined interval. When the variation in the degree of movement ofthe electronic device 310 is maintained for the time period within thepredetermined interval, the heart rate sensor may be activated.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the proximitysensor 420 or at least one of the bio sensors may be activated to detectthe state of being worn. Or, two or more sensors may be activated.Further, other bio sensors may be included to detect a sensing value todetermine whether the electronic device 301 is worn.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views illustrating a watch-type wearableelectronic device where a sensor module is positioned according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

Although FIG. 5 illustrates an example in which the sensor module 400 isdisposed at the center of the rear surface of the substantially flatbody housing 311 of the electronic device, the sensor module 400 mayalternatively be disposed on an edge of the rear surface or may bedisposed at any other positions where the sensor module 400 may come incontact with the user's body. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the bodyhousing 311 may have a predetermined curvature suited for the shape ofthe user's body, e.g., the thickness or curvature of the wrist, so as tocome in snug contact with the user's skin. The contact members 340,e.g., recharging terminals, may be arranged adjacent to the sensormodule 400.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a glasses-type electronicdevice where a sensor module is positioned according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, the electronic device 700 may be implemented as adisplay device wearable on the user's body, e.g., face or head. Asee-through display unit may be positioned in a region adjacent to theuser's head (e.g., an eye), and a speaker (not shown) may be positionedin a region adjacent to the user's ear to provide the user with visualinformation and auditory information. The electronic device 700 mayinclude a glasses-type display device or a helmet-type display device.The electronic device 700 may include a monocular-type display devicewith a single display unit for displaying content or a binocular-typedisplay unit with a plurality of display units.

As shown in FIG. 7, a sensor module 710 may be disposed on a portion ofthe electronic device 700 snugly contacting the user's body (e.g., sidesof the head). Although FIG. 7 illustrates an example in which theproximity sensor to sense whether the electronic device 700 is worn andthe bio sensor to measure a biological signal are provided together in aregion of the electronic device 700, the proximity sensor and the biosensor may be arranged separately from each other. Accordingly, theposition of the sensor module 710, e.g., the proximity sensor or the biosensor, may be changed corresponding to the performance or structure ofthe electronic device 700 in order to measure a biological signal whilesensing whether the electronic device 700 is worn.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for determining a statein which an electronic device is worn according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The electronic device 101 monitors the resting statewhen the device is worn and when the movement strength is less than athreshold for at least a predetermined time. When the device is worn,biological signals can be measured. When the movement strength is lessthan the threshold for at least the predetermined time, the user isdeemed to be at rest.

Referring to FIG. 8, the electronic device 101 may determine through thesensor module 170 whether a movement occurs in operation 800. When amovement occurs, a variation in movement strength of the electronicdevice 101 may be determined in operation 805. Here, the variation inmovement strength may represent a variation history between the currentdegree of movement and the degree of movement that occurred apredetermined time before the current movement.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 101 may compute a movement value according to the movement of theelectronic device 101 using the acceleration sensor and may compute thevariation in movement strength of the electronic device 101 using thecomputed movement value. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device 101 may compute variations in movementstrength in predetermined time units, e.g., one second, five seconds, orother various time units. Accordingly, the variation in movementstrength may be computed at a predetermined period, e.g., ten times persecond, and the period of computing the variation in movement strengthmay be changed.

The electronic device 101 may determine the variation in movementstrength to determine whether the pattern of the variation in movementstrength is a predetermined pattern in operation 810. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the predetermined pattern may be apattern in which the movement strength is reduced. For example, when theuser holds up the electronic device 101 on the table and puts it on hiswrist, the movement strength when the electronic device 101 is held upmay be larger than the movement strength when the electronic device 101is put on. Further, the movement strength when putting on the electronicdevice 101 may be small as compared to holding up the electronic device101 because of band adjustment or other manipulations to make theelectronic device 101 snug with the wrist.

If during operation 810, the movement strength variation does not followthe predetermined pattern, the process is terminated.

As such, when the movement strength is reduced, the electronic device101 may determine whether the electronic device 101 is worn in operation815. That is, when receiving movement measurements by the sensor module170 that are consistent with the user wearing the electronic device 101,it may be determined that the user has actually worn the electronicdevice 101. To that end, the electronic device 101 may determine whetherthe electronic device 101 is worn using the sensor module 170.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may determine whether the electronic device 101 isworn using a proximity sensor. Upon using a proximity sensor provided onthe rear surface of the electronic device 101, the proximity sensor onthe rear surface of the electronic device 101 may determine whether aportion of the user's body has approached the proximity sensor. Whetherthe electronic device 101 is worn can be determined in the foregoingmanner.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may determine whether the electronic device 101 isworn using a GSR sensor. The GSR sensor may determine whether a portionof the user's body has contacted or approached the GSR sensor accordingto an electric conductance measured by the GSR sensor. Based on theelectrical conductance, the electronic device 101 can determine whetherit is worn.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 101 may determine whether the electronic device 101 is worn usinga temperature sensor. When using the temperature sensor, the electronicdevice 101 may determine a portion of the user's body has approached thetemperature sensor according to temperature measurements. The electronicdevice 101 can use the temperature measurements to determine whether itis worn. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may also determine which portion of the body, theelectronic device 101 is being worn, e.g., the user's wrist, head, arm,ankle, or face.

If during operation 820, the device is not worn, the process terminals.

When the electronic device 101 is being worn during operation 820, theelectronic device 101 may determine a movement strength of theelectronic device 101 in operation 825 and may determine whether themovement strength is less than a threshold for a predetermined time inoperation 830. If the electronic device 101 is being worn in operation820, and the movement strength maintains less than the threshold for thepredetermined time in operation 830, a biological signal for a restingstate is measured (operation 835), and the process may come to an end.

Subsequently, when the movement strength maintains less than thethreshold for the predetermined time in operation 830, which indicatesthat the user does not move, the electronic device 101 may performresting state monitoring in operation 835.

As such, upon meeting both the condition that the electronic device 101is being worn and the condition that the user does not move prior toperforming the resting state monitoring, the electronic device 101 mayperform such resting state monitoring in operation 835.

Since the electronic device 101 is being worn on the user's wrist, theelectronic device 101 may control the sensor module 170 to measure thespeed, acceleration, traveling direction, or slope of the electronicdevice 101. The electronic device 101 may determine the user's currentstate, e.g., still, running, or walking, and the posture of the userwearing the electronic device 101, e.g., the state of moving using atraveling means, based on sensing data measured through the sensormodule 170 of the electronic device 101. The sensor module 170 maydetermine whether the user is resting by detecting where the electronicdevice 101 is moving slow or the state in which the user moving whilewearing the electronic device 101 stops moving, at least for apredetermined time, based on the determined current state and the movingstate. Here, the user's posture refers to a position of the user's bodywhen the electronic device 101 is a body-worn electronic device. Theuser's posture refers to a position of the user's head when theelectronic device 101 is an ear-worn electronic device. The user'sposture refers to a position of the user's wrist or ankle when theelectronic device 101 is a wrist-worn electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, whether the useris in the resting state may be determined based on the user's currentstate, moving state, posture, and the movement of the electronic device101. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a phone usehistory, such as calling, call receiving, or texting, during a previouspredetermined time period may also be used to determine whether the useris in the resting state. For example, even when predetermined conditionsto determine the resting state, such as the movement of the electronicdevice 101 or the user's current state, while the electronic device 101is worn, the electronic device 101 may trace the usage of the electronicdevice 101 and determine that the user is not in a resting state, whenthe user uses the functions such as calling/receiving or gaming for apredetermined time or more. Additionally, the electronic device 101 maydetermine that the user is in a resting state after functions such asusing the phone or gaming come to an end.

In one embodiment, the electronic device 101 measures biological signals(e.g., the user's blood pressure, blood flow, body temperature,respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, cardiorespiratory sound, or bloodsugar) when the user is at rest. The electronic device 101 determinesthat the user is at rest when the device is worn and there is little orno movement of the device. For example, the sensor for measuring theheart rate is activated upon determining that the user is at rest,resulting in substantially less power consumption.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for measuring biologicalinformation in a resting state by an electronic device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. For the operations shown in FIG.9, it is assumed that the electronic device 101 is worn from theoperations described above in connection with FIG. 8.

Referring to FIG. 9, the electronic device 101 may determine a variationin movement strength of the electronic device 101 through the sensormodule 170 while the electronic device 101 is being worn on the user'sbody in operation 900. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device 101 may compute a movement valueaccording to the movement of the electronic device 101 using theacceleration sensor and may compute the movement strength of theelectronic device 101 using the computed movement value. Subsequently,the electronic device 101 may determine whether the computed movementstrength is less than a first threshold in operation 905. When themovement strength is less than the first threshold, the electronicdevice 101 may determine whether the movement strength less than thefirst threshold lasts for a first time period or more in operation 910.When the movement strength is not less than the first threshold or whenthe movement strength less than the first threshold does not last forthe first time period or more, the electronic device 101 may go back tooperation 900.

It is noted that when the movement of the electronic device 101 is lessthan the first threshold, and for more than the first time period, theforegoing would normally indicate that the user is at rest. However, ifthis immediately follows a period of strenuous exercise, there will be asignificant increase in the heart rate as compared to a routine timewhen the movement of the electronic device 101 being less than the firstthreshold, for more than the first time period. To alleviate this, theelectronic device determines whether during a second time period, priorto the first time period, whether there was movement that unusuallylarge, or larger than a second threshold, the second threshold largerthan the first threshold.

Accordingly, when there is a larger movement for a second time periodbefore the first time period, the heart rate recovery time may takelonger as compared with when there is a smaller movement for the secondtime period. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theheart rate recovery time may be adjusted depending on the level of aprevious movement. A method for adjusting the heart rate recovery timeis described below with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B.

When the movement strength less than the first threshold lasts for thefirst time period or more in operation 910, the electronic device 101may determine whether the movement strength during the second timeperiod before the first time period is a second threshold or more inoperation 915. In other words, the electronic device 101 may determinewhether there is a larger movement during the second time period beforethe first time period. By contrast, unless the movement strength duringthe second time period before the first time period is the secondthreshold or more, the electronic device 101 may activate a sensor formeasuring a heart rate in operation 920 and store a heart rate measuredin the resting state in operation 925. On the contrary, when themovement strength during the second time period before the first timeperiod is the second threshold or more, the electronic device 101 mayreturn to operation 900. Here, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, when the movement during the second time period is larger,e.g., the second threshold or more, the electronic device 101 may beimplemented to increase the duration of the first time period to recoverthe cardiac function when going back to operation 900. This is toincrease the first time period, if the user has recently engaged instrenuous exercise.

As described above, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device 101 may measure the user's heart rateswhenever meeting the condition that the state of the electronic device101 lasts within a predetermined threshold range for a predeterminedtime.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the user's heartrate may be measured a predetermined time after the user's state hasbeen previously measured while the above condition is met. In otherwords, the electronic device 101 may return to operation 900 apredetermined time after the user's heart rate has been measured, andwhen the above conditions are met, may result in the measurement of aheart rate in the resting state. As such, the electronic device 101 mayre-measure a heart rate when a predetermined time elapses after aprevious time of heart rate measurement even when the resting state isdetermined to come back after the heart rate measurement, thus reducingthe number of times that the heart rate sensor is activated. Thus, theenergy consumption of the electronic device 101 may be reduced.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when theelectronic device 101 meets the above condition, a predetermined timeelapses since the previous heart rate measurement was done, and theelectronic device 101 is positioned so that the user is highly likely tobe in the resting state in light of the user's activity pattern, and theelectronic device 101 may measure the user's heart rate.

The heart rate measured only once in the above manner, or when there aremultiple heart rates measured, a weighted average of the multiple heartrates may be used as a resting heart rate depending on the state andposition of the electronic device 101 when the heart rates are measured.

The operation of FIG. 9 is described below with reference to FIGS. 10Aand 10B for better understanding. FIGS. 10A and 10B are graphsillustrating movement strengths according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 10A, the horizontal axis (X) is a time axis, and thevertical axis (Y) is an axis indicating movement strengths. Here, the“axis indicating movement strengths” refers to a variation according toa direction of a force. For example, it may be considered that when thedirection of the force is a plus (+) direction, an acceleration acts ina plus (+) direction of one of, at least, the x, y, and z axes of theacceleration sensor, and an acceleration reacts in a minus (−)direction. As shown in FIG. 10A, D1 1000 indicates a time period fordetermining a resting state, D2 1005 a time during which a movementstrength corresponding to the user's state or a movement of theelectronic device 101 is between a first threshold (e.g., Level1) and asecond threshold (e.g., Level2), D3 1010 a time period during which themovement strength is between the second threshold (e.g., Level2) and athird threshold (e.g., Level3), and D4 1015 a time period during whichthe movement strength is between the third threshold (e.g., Level3) anda fourth threshold (e.g., Level4). Here, the width of each time periodD2 to D4 may vary depending on the threshold range where the movementstrength belongs.

For example, the first threshold may be a reference value fordetermining a state in which the user does not move so that theelectronic device 101 substantially comes to a halt. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the first threshold may be areference value to determine a state in which the user puts aside theelectronic device 101 without wearing it. In other words, when the firstthreshold lasts for a predetermined time or more, the first thresholdmay be used to determine such a state that the user places down theelectronic device 101 for, e.g., recharging, without wearing the device.

Further, the second threshold may be a reference value to determine astate in which the user wearing the electronic device 101 stops moving.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, although thesecond threshold is used as a reference to determine whether the sensorfor heart rate measurement is activated, for example, any other variousreferences, such as the user's age or place or time of wearing theelectronic device, or other various environmental factors, may be usedas the reference value.

The third threshold may be a reference value to determine whether thestate is a moving state that arises in a daily routine, the fourththreshold may be a reference value to determine whether the state is awalking state, and the fifth threshold may be a reference value todetermine whether the state is a running state or engaging in strenuousexercise.

As shown in FIG. 10A, when the movement strength lasts for apredetermined time at the second threshold or less, the sensor tomeasure a heart rate may be activated at the time 1020 that thepredetermined time has elapsed. As such, since the sensor module isactivated only when required, battery consumption is reduced.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the firsttime period is D1 1000, the case where the movement strength during thesecond time period (e.g., D2 1005) before the first time period isexceeds the fourth threshold (e.g., Level4), the profile may mean thatthe user has engaged in more strenuous activity compared with theprofile where the movement strength during the second time period iswithin the second threshold (e.g., Level2) range. Accordingly, timeperiod D1 should be longer for if the time period D4 during whichmovement exceeded the fourth threshold (Level4) was long. Accordingly,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the minimum heartrate recover time as required before activating the sensor to measure aheart rate may be adjusted depending on the degree of a previousmovement. In other words, the time period corresponding to D1 may bevaried depending on the duration of D2 to D4. For example, the width ofD1 may be more reduced when the movement strength comes in the firstthreshold from the fourth threshold range than when coming in the firstthreshold range from the second threshold range.

Meanwhile, although FIG. 10A represents movement strengths,specifically, variations in acceleration, the degree of a movement mayalso be recognized in a way as shown in FIG. 10B. As shown in FIG. 10A,the waveform near “0” denotes the case where the acceleration is 0, andthis may occur since the waveform fluctuating between a positive valueand a negative value is accelerated in the plus (+) direction by the lawof action-reaction, and when put on a halt, it is accelerated in theminus (−) direction by the same law.

FIG. 10B shows magnitudes through x, y, and z values of the accelerationsensor that are shown to be larger than 0 on the graph, and such valuesmay denote impulses. The impulses may be calculated by the followingEquation 1.

Mag=√{square root over (x ² +y ² +z ²)}  [Equation 1]

In Equation 1, ‘Mag’ may denote an impulse, and x, y, and z may denotex, y, and z values, respectively, of the acceleration sensor.

As set forth above, the degree of a movement, i.e., a movement strength,may be determined either by a variation in acceleration as shown in FIG.10A or by the absolute magnitude of the acceleration sensor as shown inFIG. 10B.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are flowcharts illustrating an operation afterbiological information has been measured in a resting state by anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11A, operations 1100 to 1125 are the same asoperations 900 to 925 of FIG. 9, and no detailed description thereof isrepeated. However, whether the movement strength is the second thresholdor more during the second time period before the first time period maybe determined in operation 1115. When the movement strength during thesecond time period before the first time period is the second thresholdor more, the first time period may be adjusted considering the timerequired for the cardiac function to recover in operation 1117. Here,the adjusted first time period may be rendered to be longer than theprevious first time period. In other words, time period D1 is madelonger. Here, ‘A’ denotes that operation 1125 of FIG. 11A is associatedwith operation 1130 of FIG. 11B, and ‘B’ denotes that operation 1100 ofFIG. 11A is associated with operation 1140 of FIG. 11B.

Thus, after activating the sensor to measure a heart rate in operation1120 and storing a heart rate measured in the resting state in operation1125, the electronic device 101 may determine whether the movementstrength during the third time period (D3) after the first time periodis less than the first threshold (Level1) in operation 1130. Forexample, when the user does not move with the electronic device 101 onduring the first time period or does not wear the electronic device 101so that there is no movement of the electronic device 101, theelectronic device 101 may determine that the moment is a resting time tomeasure a heart rate in the resting state.

However, when the user thereafter takes off the electronic device 101,there may be no movement of the electronic device 101. In such case, themovement strength during the third time period may maintain less thanthe first threshold. Whether the electronic device 101 is worn may bedetermined in operation 1135 to determine whether no movement occurssince the user does not actually wear the electronic device 101. Whenthe movement strength during the third time period is less than thefirst threshold, it may be determined in operation 1135 whether theelectronic device 101 is worn in the same manner as operations 815 and820 of FIG. 8. Unless the electronic device 101 is determined to be wornin operation 1140, the process may be terminated.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for storing a resultmeasured based on biological information measured in a resting state byan electronic device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Here, the electronic device 101 may be an electronic devicethat is performing monitoring to determine a resting state with theelectronic device 101 worn.

Referring to FIG. 12, the electronic device 101 may determine whetherthe sensor to measure a heart rate is activated in operation 1200. Theelectronic device 101 may determine whether the resting state comes upbased on, e.g., the user's moving state, the movement of the electronicdevice 101, or the current position, and upon determining that theresting state comes up, the electronic device 101 may activate thesensor. Accordingly, when the sensor is activated, the electronic device101 may measure a heart rate in the resting state in operation 1205 andmay obtain data to be stored together with the measured heart rate.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 101 may obtain information on the current position of theelectronic device 101 when measuring the heart rate in operation 1210.Subsequently, the electronic device 101 may store at least one item ofplace, time of measurement, and use history of application based on thecurrent position information in association with the measured heart ratein operation 1215. Thereafter, the electronic device 101 may determinewhether there is a request for identifying the measured result from theuser in operation 1220. When there is the request for identifying themeasured result, the electronic device 101 may display the measuredheart rate result corresponding to the user's item selection inoperation 1225.

FIGS. 13A to 13C are screen views illustrating results of measurement ofheart rates corresponding to items selected by the user according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

Since the electronic device 101 is being worn on the user's wrist, theelectronic device 101 may determine the time when the user is in theresting state based on the sensing data measured through the sensormodule 170 of the electronic device 101 and may display a resultantheart rate measured in the resting state. The resultant heart ratemeasured in the resting state may be stored in association with the dateor time or place of the measurement.

Accordingly, when the user selects the date item as shown in FIG. 13A,the measured heart rate results 1305 in the resting state may bedisplayed per date on the electronic device 101. Accordingly, when theuser selects the time item as shown in FIG. 13B, the measured heart rateresults 1310 in the resting state may be displayed per time period onthe electronic device 101. Accordingly, when the user selects the placeitem as shown in FIG. 13C, the measured heart rate results 1315 in theresting state may be displayed per place period on the electronic device101. As such, the measured heart rate results may be stored inassociation with date or time or place of measurement, thereby leadingto diversified applications. For example, the count of measuring heartrates in the resting state may be set to differ depending on whether theelectronic device 101 is placed in home or work place. For example, whenthe user is wearing the electronic device 101 at home, his activity maybe less than that while he works. Thus, a weighted frequency for heartrate measurement in the resting state may be increased considering suchsituation.

Meanwhile, the heart rate result measured in the resting state may beutilized for healthcare services in various manners. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the heart rate result measured inthe resting state may be used to display a variation in the user's bodycondition through a tendency in which heart rates change in the restingstate.

FIG. 14 is a view illustrating a healthcare service using a result ofheart rate measurement performed in a resting state according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 14, when a graph 1405 with a measured heart rate of alarger width 1407 than that in a graph 1400 of heart rate resultsmeasured in the resting state and accumulated for a predetermined timeperiod shows up, the user may be notified of the graph 1405. Forexample, the variation history of heart rates in the resting state maybe utilized to recommend cardiography or other medical checkup for userswith a variation width exceeding a predetermined standard or may be usedas auxiliary material to check up the users' heart and body conditions.

Further, in the case 1410 where the heart rates automatically measuredin the resting state for a predetermined time period steadily decreaseas compared with the reference graph 1400, the user's health conditionmay be determined to gradually get better. By contrast, in the case 1415where the user's heart rates in the resting state steadily increase, theuser's health condition may be determined to gradually worsen, and itsrelevant feedback may be delivered to the user.

The difference between the time when the user enters the resting statebased on the sensing data to measure a physical movement and the timewhen the user actually enters the resting state based on a heart ratemay be used to determine the user's heart condition and whether there isa danger of sudden cardiac death. For example, when the user with adisease history, such as heart disease or cardiovascular disease entersthe resting state but his heart rate is down to the resting state with apredetermined time or more of delay, such information may be useful tocalculate the probability of the user's sudden cardiac death. Further,although it is determined that the user's movement is in the restingstate while the user is wearing the electronic device 101, when theuser's heart rate measured is significantly higher or lower as comparedwith a normal resting heart rate, it may be inferred that the user'sbody is in an abnormal condition. As such, when an abnormal conditionoccurs in the user's body, an alert may be externally transferred, sothat the heart rate information in the resting state may be utilized toearly discover a possible emergency. Generally, a sharply increased highheart rate may be observed if the user collapses, e.g., due to cerebralinfarction, as compared with the resting heart rate measured in hisroutine during which he makes little or no movement. A very tiny heartrate may be observed if the user collapses, e.g., due to a faint orheart attack, as compared with the resting heart rate measured in hisroutine during which he makes little or no movement.

Further, the heart rate result measured in the resting state may beutilized in various manners for healthcare services other than thosedescribed above. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure,heart rate results measured in the resting state may be used tocalculate calorie consumption through normalization of heart rates.

FIG. 15 is a view illustrating an example of displaying a healthcarecontent using a result of heart rate measurement performed in a restingstate by a plurality of electronic devices according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 15, when biological information is configured, theprocessor 120 of the electronic device 101 may perform control totransfer the configured biological information to another electronicdevice 103 communicably connected with the electronic device. In otherwords, the electronic device 101 may display a screen indicating that ahealthcare application is running. The electronic device 101 mayconfigure a measured heart rate result or measured heart rateresult-based information for an electronic device 103 interworking withthe electronic device 101 and may provide the configured information tothe electronic device 103. In response, the electronic device 103 maydisplay a healthcare screen based on a result of monitoring a heart ratein the resting state, which includes more detailed items as comparedwith those of the electronic device 101.

As shown in FIG. 15, the heart rate result measured in the resting statemay be used to calculate calorie consumption through normalization ofheart rates, and a content may be displayed according to an exercisemode based on the calorie consumption. That is, the user's calorieconsumption may be calculated based on a variation in heart rate and theuser's movement. Generally, as the user does a physical activity, suchas exercise, his heart rate increases. The degree by which the heartrate has been increased may be used to calculate the degree of theuser's physical activity and calorie consumption. Here, although theuser's heart rate is increased as he attends a physical activity, thewidth by which the heart rate is increased may vary depending on theuser's body conditions. Accordingly, the degree of the user's physicalactivity and calorie consumption might not be exactly calculated onlywith the information that his heart rate has been increased. Theinformation on the user's heart rate in the resting state may be used tomore correctly calculate his calorie consumption and degree of physicalactivity.

The maximum heart rate during exercise per age is generally fixed.Therefore, when the user's heart rate in the resting state is known, anavailable heart rate variation range per user may be obtained, and thedegree by which the user's heart rate currently measured is positionedwithin the available heart rate variation range per user may bequantized and represented. As such, the quantized heart rate variationmay be used to derive a formula for the user's calorie consumption.Here, the user's heart rate may be varied by exercise and may also beincreased or decreased by strain/discomfort/sleep/rest or other changesin his physical condition. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the causes for quantized heart rate variations may bedifferentiated using sensor information obtained from an inertia sensor,a location sensor, an air pressure sensor, a GSR sensor, or atemperature sensor, and different calorie consumption formulas may applyto their causes, thereby allowing the calorie calculation increasedaccuracy.

For example, when the user is determined to be in a workout, quantizedheart rate variation-based calorie consumption formulas may applydepending on the state and type of the exercise, and when the user isdetermined to be in sleep, a calorie consumption formula optimized for asleep state may apply to increase the accuracy of calculation of calorieconsumption.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device 1601according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The electronicdevice 1601 may include the whole or part of the configuration of, e.g.,the electronic device 101 shown in FIG. 1. The electronic device 1601may include one or more processors (e.g., application processors (APs))1610, a communication module 1620, a subscriber identification module(SIM) 1624, a memory 1630, a sensor module 1640, an input device 1650, adisplay 1660, an interface 1670, an audio module 1680, a camera module1691, a power management module 1695, a battery 1696, an indicator 1697,and a motor 1698.

The processor 1610 may control multiple hardware and software componentsconnected to the processor 1610 by running, e.g., an operating system orapplication programs, and the processor 210 may process and computevarious data. The processor 1610 may be implemented in, e.g., a systemon chip (SoC). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theprocessor 1610 may further include a graphic processing unit (GPU)and/or an image signal processor. The processor 1610 may include atleast some (e.g., the cellular module 1021) of the components shown inFIG. 16. The processor 1610 may load a command or data received from atleast one of other components (e.g., a non-volatile memory) on avolatile memory, process the command or data, and store various data inthe non-volatile memory.

The communication module 1620 may have the same or similar configurationto the communication interface 160 of FIG. 1. The communication module1620 may include, e.g., a cellular module 1621, a Wi-Fi module 1623, aBluetooth module 1625, a GNSS module 1627 (e.g., a GPS module, a Glonassmodule, a Beidou module, or a Galileo module), an NFC module 1628, and aradio frequency (RF) module 1629.

The cellular module 1621 may provide voice call, video call, text, orInternet services through, e.g., a communication network. The cellularmodule 1621 may perform identification or authentication on theelectronic device 201 in the communication network using a subscriberidentification module 1624 (e.g., the SIM card). According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the cellular module 1621 mayperform at least some of the functions providable by the processor 1610.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cellularmodule 1621 may include a communication processor (CP).

The Wi-Fi module 1623, the Bluetooth module 1625, the GNSS module 1627,or the

NFC module 1628 may include a process for, e.g., processing datacommunicated through the module. At least some (e.g., two or more) ofthe cellular module 1621, the Wi-Fi module 1623, the Bluetooth module1625, the GNSS module 1627, or the NFC module 1628 may be included in asingle integrated circuit (IC) or an IC package.

The RF module 1629 may communicate data, e.g., communication signals(e.g., RF signals). The RF module 1629 may include, e.g., a transceiver,a power amplifier module (PAM), a frequency filter, an LNA (low noiseamplifier), or an antenna. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, at least one of the cellular module 1621, the Wi-Fi module1623, the Bluetooth module 1625, the GNSS module 1627, or the NFC module1628 may communicate RF signals through a separate RF module.

The subscription identification module 1624 may include, e.g., a cardincluding a subscriber identification module and/or an embedded SIM, andmay contain unique identification information (e.g., an integratedcircuit card identifier (ICCID) or subscriber information (e.g., aninternational mobile subscriber identity (IMSI)).

The memory 1630 (e.g., the memory 130) may include, e.g., an internalmemory 1632 or an external memory 1634. The internal memory 1632 mayinclude at least one of, e.g., a volatile memory (e.g., a dynamic RAM(DRAM), a static RAM (SRAM), a synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), etc.) ora non-volatile memory (e.g., a one time programmable ROM (OTPROM), aprogrammable ROM (PROM), an erasable and programmable ROM (EPROM), anelectrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), a mask ROM, a flashROM, a flash memory (e.g., a NAND flash, or a NOR flash), a hard drive,or solid state drive (SSD).

The external memory 1634 may include a flash drive, e.g., a CF (compactflash) memory, an SD (secure digital) memory, a micro-SD memory, amin-SD memory, an xD (extreme digital) memory, a multi-media card (MMC),or a memory stick™. The external memory 1634 may be functionally and/orphysically connected with the electronic device 1601 via variousinterfaces.

For example, the sensor module 1640 may measure a physical quantity ordetect an operational state of the electronic device 1601, and thesensor module 240 may convert the measured or detected information intoan electrical signal. The sensor module 1640 may include at least oneof, e.g., a gesture sensor 1640A, a gyro sensor 1640B, an air pressuresensor 1640C, a magnetic sensor 1640D, an acceleration sensor 1640E, agrip sensor 1640F, a proximity sensor 1640G, a color sensor 1640H suchas an red-green-blue (RGB) sensor, a bio sensor 1640I, atemperature/humidity sensor 1640J, an illumination sensor 1640K, or anultra violet (UV) sensor 1640M. Additionally or alternatively, thesensing module 1640 may include, e.g., an E-nose sensor, anelectromyography (EMG) sensor, an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor, anelectrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, an iris sensor,or a finger print sensor. The sensor module 1640 may further include acontrol circuit for controlling at least one or more of the sensorsincluded in the sensing module. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the electronic device 1601 may further include aprocessor configured to control the sensor module 1640 as part of theprocessor 1610 or separately from the processor 1610, and the electronicdevice 1601 may control the sensor module 1640 while the processor 1610is in a sleep mode.

The input unit 1650 may include, e.g., a touch panel 1652, a (digital)pen sensor 1654, a key 1656, or an ultrasonic input device 1658. Thetouch panel 1652 may use at least one of capacitive, resistive,infrared, or ultrasonic methods. The touch panel 1652 may furtherinclude a control circuit. The touch panel 1652 may further include atactile layer and may provide a user with a tactile reaction.

The (digital) pen sensor 1654 may include, e.g., a part of a touch panelor a separate sheet for recognition. The key 1656 may include e.g., aphysical button, optical key or key pad. The ultrasonic input device1658 may sense an ultrasonic wave generated from an input tool through amicrophone (e.g., the microphone 1688) to identify data corresponding tothe sensed ultrasonic wave.

The display 1660 (e.g., the display 160) may include a panel 1662, ahologram device 1664, or a projector 1666. The panel 1662 may have thesame or similar configuration to the display 160 of FIG. 1. The panel1662 may be implemented to be flexible, transparent, or wearable. Thepanel 1662 may also be incorporated with the touch panel 1652 in amodule. The hologram device 1664 may make three dimensional (3D) images(holograms) in the air by using light interference. The projector 1666may display an image by projecting light onto a screen. The screen maybe, for example, located inside or outside of the electronic device1601. In accordance with an embodiment, the display 1660 may furtherinclude a control circuit to control the panel 1662, the hologram device1664, or the projector 1666.

The interface 1670 may include e.g., a high definition multimediainterface (HDMI) 1672, a universal serial bus (USB) 1674, an opticalinterface 1676, or a D-subminiature (D-sub) 1678. The interface 1670 maybe included in e.g., the communication interface 160 shown in FIG. 1.Additionally or alternatively, the interface 1670 may include a mobilehigh-definition link (MHL) interface, a secure digital (SD)card/multimedia card (MMC) interface, or IrDA standard interface.

The audio module 1680 may convert a sound into an electric signal orvice versa, for example. At least a part of the audio module 1680 may beincluded in e.g., the input/output interface 145 as shown in FIG. 1. Theaudio module 1680 may process sound information input or output throughe.g., a speaker 1682, a receiver 1684, an earphone 1686, or a microphone1688.

For example, the camera module 1691 may be a device for capturing stillimages and videos, and may include, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, one or more image sensors (e.g., front and backsensors), a lens, an image signal processor (ISP), or a flash such as anLED or xenon lamp.

The power manager module 1695 may manage power of the electronic device1601, for example. Although not shown, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the power manager module 1695 may include a powermanagement integrated circuit (PMIC), a charger IC, or a battery or fuelgauge. The PMIC may have a wired and/or wireless recharging scheme. Thewireless charging scheme may include e.g., a magnetic resonance scheme,a magnetic induction scheme, or an electromagnetic wave based scheme,and an additional circuit, such as a coil loop, a resonance circuit, arectifier, or the like may be added for wireless charging. The batterygauge may measure an amount of remaining power of the battery 1696, avoltage, a current, or a temperature while the battery 296 is beingcharged. The battery 1696 may include, e.g., a rechargeable battery or asolar battery.

The indicator 1697 may indicate a particular state of the electronicdevice 1601 or a part (e.g., the processor 1610) of the electronicdevice, including e.g., a booting state, a message state, or rechargingstate. The motor 1698 may convert an electric signal to a mechanicalvibration and may generate a vibrational or haptic effect. Although notshown, a processing unit for supporting mobile TV, such as a GPU may beincluded in the electronic device 1601. The processing unit forsupporting mobile TV may process media data conforming to a standard fordigital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), digital video broadcasting (DVB),or mediaFlo™.

Each of the aforementioned components of the electronic device mayinclude one or more parts, and a name of the part may vary with a typeof the electronic device. The electronic device in accordance withvarious embodiments of the present disclosure may include at least oneof the aforementioned components, omit some of them, or include otheradditional component(s). Some of the components may be combined into anentity, but the entity may perform the same functions as the componentsmay do.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a program module according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the program module 1710 (e.g., the program 140) mayinclude an operating system (OS) controlling resources related to theelectronic device (e.g., the electronic device 101) and/or variousapplications (e.g., the application processor 134) driven on theoperating system. The operating system may include, e.g., Android, iOS,Windows, Symbian, Tizen, or Bada.

The program 1710 may include, e.g., a kernel 1720, middleware 1730, anapplication programming interface (API) 1760, and/or an application1770. At least a part of the program module 1710 may be preloaded on theelectronic device or may be downloaded from an external electronicdevice (e.g., the electronic devices 103 and 104 or healthcare server106).

The kernel 1720 (e.g., the kernel 141) may include, e.g., a systemresource manager 1721 and/or a device driver 1723. The system resourcemanager 1721 may perform control, allocation, or recovery of systemresources. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thesystem resource manager 1721 may include a process managing unit, amemory managing unit, or a file system managing unit. The device driver1723 may include, e.g., a display driver, a camera driver, a Bluetoothdriver, a shared memory driver, a USB driver, a keypad driver, a Wi-Fidriver, an audio driver, or an inter-process communication (IPC) driver.

The middleware 1730 may provide various functions to the application1770 through the API 1760 so that the application 1770 may efficientlyuse limited system resources in the electronic device or providefunctions jointly required by applications 1770. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware 1730 (e.g.,middleware 143) may include at least one of a runtime library 1735, anapplication manager 1741, a window manager 1742, a multimedia manager1743, a resource manager 1744, a power manager 1745, a database manager1746, a package manager 1747, a connectivity manager 1748, anotification manager 1749, a location manager 1750, a graphic manager1751, or a security manager 1752.

The runtime library 1735 may include a library module used by a compilerin order to add a new function through a programming language while,e.g., the application 1770 is being executed. The runtime library 1735may perform input/output management, memory management, or operation onarithmetic functions.

The application manager 1741 may manage the life cycle of at least oneapplication of, e.g., the applications 1770. The window manager 1742 maymanage GUI resources used on the screen. The multimedia manager 1743 maygrasp formats necessary to play various media files and use a codecappropriate for a format to perform encoding or decoding on media files.The resource manager 1744 may manage resources, such as source code ofat least one of the applications 1770, memory or storage space.

The power manager 1745 may operate together with, e.g., a basicinput/output system (BIOS) to manage battery or power and provide powerinformation necessary for operating the electronic device. The databasemanager 1746 may generate, search, or vary a database to be used in atleast one of the applications 1770. The package manager 1747 may manageinstallation or update of an application that is distributed in the formof a package file.

The connectivity manager 1748 may manage wireless connectivity, such as,e.g., Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The notification manager 1749 may display ornotify an event, such as a coming message, appointment, or proximitynotification, of the user without interfering with the user. Thelocation manager 1750 may manage locational information on theelectronic device. The graphic manager 1751 may manage graphic effectsto be offered to the user and their related user interface. The securitymanager 1752 may provide various security functions necessary for systemsecurity or user authentication. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, when the electronic device (e.g., the electronicdevice 101) has telephony capability, the middleware 1730 may furtherinclude a telephony manager for managing voice call or video callfunctions of the electronic device.

The middleware 1730 may include a middleware module forming acombination of various functions of the above-described components. Themiddleware 1730 may provide a specified module per type of the operatingsystem in order to provide a differentiated function. Further, themiddleware 1730 may dynamically omit some existing components or add newcomponents.

The API 1760 (e.g., the API 145) may be a set of, e.g., API programmingfunctions and may have different configurations depending on operatingsystems. For example, in the case of Android or iOS, one API set may beprovided per platform, and in the case of Tizen, two or more API setsmay be offered per platform.

The application 1770 (e.g., the application processor 134) may includeone or more applications that may provide functions such as, e.g., ahome 1771, a dialer 1772, an SMS/MMS 1773, an instant message (IM) 1774,a browser 1775, a camera 1776, an alarm 1777, a contact 1778, a voicedial 1779, an email 1780, a calendar 1781, a media player 1782, an album1783, or a clock 1784, a health-care (e.g., measuring the degree ofworkout or blood sugar), or provision of environmental information(e.g., provision of air pressure, moisture, or temperature information).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application1770 may include an application (hereinafter, “information exchangingapplication” for convenience) supporting information exchange betweenthe electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 101) and an externalelectronic device (e.g., the electronic devices 103 and 104). Examplesof the information exchange application may include, but is not limitedto, a notification relay application for transferring specificinformation to the external electronic device, or a device managementapplication for managing the external electronic device.

For example, the notification relay application may include a functionfor relaying notification information generated from other applicationsof the electronic device (e.g., the SMS/MMS application, emailapplication, health-care application, or environmental informationapplication) to the external electronic device (e.g., the electronicdevices 103 and 104). Further, the notification relay application mayreceive notification information from, e.g., the external electronicdevice and may provide the received notification information to theuser.

The device management application may perform at least some functions ofthe external electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 103 or 104)communicating with the electronic device (for example, turning on/offthe external electronic device (or some components of the externalelectronic device) or control of brightness (or resolution) of thedisplay), and the device management application may manage (e.g.,install, delete, or update) an application operating in the externalelectronic device or a service (e.g., call service or message service)provided from the external electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application1770 may include an application (e.g., a healthcare application of amobile medical device) designated according to an attribute of theexternal electronic device (e.g., the electronic devices 103 and 104).According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application1770 may include an application received from the external electronicdevice (e.g., the healthcare server 106 or electronic devices 103 and104). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theapplication 1770 may include a preloaded application or a third partyapplication downloadable from a server. The names of the components ofthe program module 1710 according to the shown embodiment may be varieddepending on the type of operating system.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least a part ofthe program module 1710 may be implemented in software, firmware,hardware, or in a combination of two or more thereof. At least a part ofthe programming module 1710 may be implemented (e.g., executed) by e.g.,a processor (e.g., the processor 1610). At least a part of the programmodule 1710 may include e.g., a module, program, routine, set ofinstructions, process, or the like for performing one or more functions.

The term ‘module’ may refer to a unit including one of hardware,software, and firmware, or a combination thereof. The term ‘module’ maybe interchangeably used with a unit, logic, logical block, component, orcircuit. The module may be a minimum unit or part of an integratedcomponent. The module may be a minimum unit or part of performing one ormore functions. The module may be implemented mechanically orelectronically. For example, the module may include at least one ofapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips, field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), or programmable logic arrays (PLAs) that performsome operations, which have already been known or will be developed inthe future.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least a part ofthe device (e.g., modules or their functions) or method (e.g.,operations) may be implemented as instructions stored in acomputer-readable storage medium e.g., in the form of a program module.The instructions, when executed by a processor (e.g., the processor120), may enable the processor to carry out a corresponding function.The computer-readable storage medium may be e.g., the memory 130.

The computer-readable storage medium may include a hardware device, suchas hard discs, floppy discs, and magnetic tapes (e.g., a magnetic tape),optical media such as compact disc ROMs (CD-ROMs) and digital versatilediscs (DVDs), magneto-optical media such as floptical disks, ROMs, RAMs,Flash Memories, and/or the like. Examples of the program instructionsmay include not only machine language codes but also high-level languagecodes which are executable by various computing means using aninterpreter. The aforementioned hardware devices may be configured tooperate as one or more software modules to carry out exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure, and vice versa.

Modules or programming modules in accordance with various embodiments ofthe present disclosure may include at least one or more of theaforementioned components, omit some of them, or further include otheradditional components. Operations performed by modules, programmingmodules or other components in accordance with various embodiments ofthe present disclosure may be carried out sequentially, simultaneously,repeatedly, or heuristically. Furthermore, some of the operations may beperformed in a different order, or omitted, or include other additionaloperation(s). The embodiments disclosed herein are proposed fordescription and understanding of the disclosed technology and does notlimit the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of thepresent disclosure should be interpreted as including all changes orvarious embodiments based on the technical spirit of the presentdisclosure.

As is apparent from the foregoing description, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the wearable electronic device mayautomatically measure a biological signal by detecting the user'sresting state without the need of remaining still for the measurement.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a sensor of thewearable electronic device may obtain a biological signal, e.g., aresult of measurement of a heart rate, in a resting state where there islittle variation in movement, thus leading to reduced measurement errorsdue to tiny movement changes and resultantly enhanced accuracy.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the user's heartrate may be automatically measured based on the detection of a movementof his wearing electronic device while the user does his daily routines.Thus, heart rates in the resting state may be consecutively measured andobtained.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a sensor formeasuring a heart rate may be activated when the user is determined tobe in a resting state based on the detection of a movement of theelectronic device worn on the user. Therefore, more power savings arepossible as compared with when the sensor is periodically activated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wearable electronic device, comprising: a firstsensor configured to sense a movement of the electronic device; a secondsensor configured to sense a biological signal of a user wearing theelectronic device; communication circuitry; and a processor configuredto: receive, via the first sensor, information relating to the movementof the electronic device, receive, via the second sensor, the biologicalsignal, identify a pulse rate of the user based on the biological signalwhich is received while the movement of the electronic device is lessthan a predetermined first threshold, and transmit, through thecommunication circuitry, information regarding the pulse rate of theuser to an external electronic device connected with the wearableelectronic device, so that the external electronic device displaysinformation regarding the pulse rate of the user.
 2. The wearableelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured todisplay the information regarding the pulse rate of the user on adisplay of the wearable electronic device.
 3. The wearable electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to display ascreen indicating that a healthcare application is running, and displaya content associated with a calorie consumption of the user based on theinformation regarding the pulse rate of the user and the movement of thewearable electronic device on the screen.
 4. The wearable electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to transmitinformation regarding the movement of the wearable electronic device, sothe external electronic device displays a content associated with acalorie consumption of the user based on the information regarding thepulse rate of the user and the movement of the wearable electronicdevice.
 5. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein, based ona movement of the electronic device being greater than the predeterminedfirst threshold during a first time period, the processor is configuredto identify a pulse rate of the user at a later time.
 6. The wearableelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured toactivate the second sensor to sense the biological signal in response toa movement of the electronic device being less than the predeterminedfirst threshold during a first time period.
 7. A method for measuringbiological information using a wearable electronic device, the methodcomprising: receiving, via a first sensor of the wearable electronicdevice, information relating to a movement of the electronic device;identifying whether a movement of the electronic device is less than apredetermined first threshold based on the information relating to amovement of the electronic device; receiving, via a second sensor of thewearable electronic device, a biological signal of a user; identifying apulse rate of the user based on the biological signal which is receivedwhile the movement of the electronic device is less than a predeterminedfirst threshold; and transmitting information regarding the pulse rateof the user to an external electronic device connected with the wearableelectronic device, so that the external electronic device displays theinformation regarding the pulse rate of the user.
 8. The method of claim7, further comprising displaying the information regarding the pulserate of the user on a display of the wearable electronic device.
 9. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: displaying a screen indicatingthat a healthcare application is running; and displaying a contentassociated with a calorie consumption of the user based on theinformation regarding the pulse rate of the user and the movement of thewearable electronic device on the screen.
 10. The method of claim 7,wherein the transmitting information regarding the pulse rate of theuser comprising: transmitting information regarding the movement of thewearable electronic device, so the external electronic device displays acontent associated with a calorie consumption of the user based on theinformation regarding the pulse rate of the user and the movement of thewearable electronic device.
 11. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising in response to a movement of the electronic device beinggreater than the predetermined first threshold during a first timeperiod, determining a pulse rate of the user at a later time.
 12. Themethod of claim 7, wherein receiving the biological signal of the useris initiated in response to a movement of the electronic device beingless than the predetermined first threshold during a first time period.